While known for their releases of awesome Asian cinema, Well Go USA often brings the horror as well and recently brought the 1979 cult classic Phantasm Remastered to Blu-ray and now they are bringing the fifth and final chapter of the series Phantasm: Ravager home as well.

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Phantasm: Ravager follows Reggie who is wandering through the desert seeking out his friend Mike and the evil The Tall Man. Along his journey, he is hunted down by the dangerous spheres and stumbles upon the gorgeous Dawn. Out of the blue, he finds himself in an institution with Mike explaining that he has dementia and then in another dimension. Where is Mike? All of the original cast return including A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, Kat Lester and horror icon Angus Scrimm in his final portrayal of the Tall Man. This is the first entry into the franchise that does not have Coscarelli in the director’s chair and instead this time around is David Hartman with Coscarelli serving as writer and producer. Going into a Phantasm film you know what you are in for so you will either love it or hate it. This latest entry is a bit disjointed and all over the place but at the same time kind of works in a strange way. Much like the original film it never really figures out what it wants to be between sci-fi and horror, but somehow makes it work. I read somewhere that the film was originally meant to be a web series and then the footage was expanded to make this entry. This would explain the way it bounces around so much along with the archived footage from the other films.

 

There is nothing that really stands out for this latest entry except that they clearly tried to do something bigger to really expand the legacy of the Tall Man. While it doesn’t always work seeing all of these original actors back together and their varying ages for the sequences it did make for an interesting direction for the final film. Being someone who was never fully invested outside of Scrimm himself I still found it to be fun, but those that love the franchise will no doubt love seeing everyone back together after 18 years. This release not only includes the film but also a variety of special features including commentary, deleted scenes, bloopers & outtakes, trailer and a behind the scenes featurette. 

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Take one final stand against the Tall Man and his deadly spheres with Phantasm: Ravager available now from Well Go USA.